Brajeshwar

It looks vaguely official, the standard wording used in Indian Visa Clearing posts, that Indian applicants were often refused entry for being of “marriageable age”. Young and single Indians stand less chances of getting a visa to enter Britain than the married ones. This is the revelation of a leading British immigration lawyer, who is the UK’s official independent watchdog of visa refusals.

An international clipping of a famous domestic newspaper carried the article today. The lawyer, Fiona Lindsley, who monitored visa applications made and turned down in 2003, declared in the formal report she has just submitted to the British Foreign secretary that Indian applicants were often refused because of being at “marriageable age”. It is in Britain’s rather desperate attempt to prevent Indian singletons marrying British partners. Lindsley is Britain’s third indepedent visa refulsals watchdog. Her predecessor, lawyer Rabindra Singh, too had identified “young and single” as a reason for visa refusal to applicants from some countries including India.

Nonetheless, on a prospective note, British have tremendous advantages from short-term visas granted to Indian visitors as “The International Passenger Survey indicates 205,000 Indian nationals who visited UK in 2002 spend over £142 million.

Well, if you ask me why am I interestd in this matter. Well, I was Debarred from MXDU 2005 and my suspect (my travel agent felt the same) was of a similar reason.